Tuesday, August 07, 2007

By request - music and meaning...

Al Sharpton has launched the Decency Initiative to rid rap lyrics of “objectionable” language by encouraging divestment in the corporations that produce the objectionable music.

He has lined up 20 cities for a day of outrage.

Blink.

Oh, I’m outraged about a whole lot of shit going down in the city…but, ummm…I’m still not feeling this.

I agree that some words are offensive…but this bitch doesn’t dig the notion of banning language.

I like the sound of “Decency Initiative”, though.

Pause…consider…continue.

But it could use a more strategic purpose.

How about using the Decency Initiative to recruiting black adults as mentors? St. Louis programs are desperate for black mentors to participate in the lives of chil’ren and young adults…which may actually result in those youngsters not seeing each other as lesser than and not articulating the language of Southern trees and strange fruit.

Or….

How about using the Decency Initiative to foster a dialogue within the community about music? Oh, and kick it off with some respect instead of the current holier than thou pontification that landed this topic in the news but failed to inspire a constructive discussion of a damn thing except Al Sharpton and pension funds?

Or…

Why not use the Decency Initiative to provide food for the hungry…to provide clothes for the thousands of youth who will miss the first week of school because they don’t have a motherfucking uniform or to recruit more people of color to teach.

How about we put the bullhorn down, drive to the ‘hood and participate in the community as equals not prophets…with respect rather than a lecture…and with some motherfucking commitment rather than a ‘I’m here as long as the camera is on’ performance?

Blink.

Oh, I understand divestment just fine.

But wouldn’t the decent move be to divest in bullshit and invest some of that energy into empowering people?

After all, if we want the people to sing of joy we might want to give them some to sing about…

I agree, it seems Al is only good at bitching..he never seems to DO anything that helps the individuals that need it.

When my son was young, I let him listen to anything he wanted, but we would discuss the music and what it 'said' to him too..he was the one that told me one day that rap wasn't good, it made all women sound like bad people..and he was only 10 at the time.

Not bad for a little white/hispanic kid eh?

I had no idea how to respond except to agree with him, but then I did tell him it was someone else's pov and he didn't need to think that way because he heard it on a song, he needed to think or himself.

he said: I know momma, I love women, they take care of people and raise their kids alone(I was a single mother), they are good people..so why would these men talk bad about them?